After much anticipation, the sampler from Uncle Mikey arrived yesterday. Beautiful sticks, wrappers practically without veins, solid straight construction.
All in all, one of those smokes that fill you with anticipation.
Took a toro outside this AM, fired it up looking forward to a great smoke.
Have you ever dated a gorgeous woman, only to find that she has the personality
of a rabid snake? Maybe this cigar wasn't quite that bad, but it came close, especially given what I expected. I'm gonna borrow bruddah Wade's format here.
Burn: uneven all the way down. Never out of control, it just never evened out.
Ash: Coarse, a little flaky, a mottled medium grey, with a black streak along one side. Held on well, but definitely unattractive.
Draw: medium firm, nice volume of smoke.
Bouquet: pleasant but innocuous; wouldn't offend anyone, but neither would it attract attention.
Flavor: one-dimensional, astringent (my mouth felt puckered from the first puff). Any notes of cedar were of the pencil-shaving variety, and a cheap pencil at that.
Strong lingering aftertaste, with a chemical note.
Rating: Maybe a 70, or a 75 if I give it points for appearance.
Maybe the churchill or the torp will redeem this line, but right now I have to put it into the camp of over-priced, over-hyped chump stick. A smoke in the $10-12 range should be way better than this, even fresh out of the store. Nowhere near the equal of the Exodus '59 or the Silver label, IMO.
I'm thinking these were rushed into production because of the anticipation and demand that a new Torano smoke creates. If so, it was a big mistake.
:angry:
All in all, one of those smokes that fill you with anticipation.
Took a toro outside this AM, fired it up looking forward to a great smoke.
Have you ever dated a gorgeous woman, only to find that she has the personality
of a rabid snake? Maybe this cigar wasn't quite that bad, but it came close, especially given what I expected. I'm gonna borrow bruddah Wade's format here.
Burn: uneven all the way down. Never out of control, it just never evened out.
Ash: Coarse, a little flaky, a mottled medium grey, with a black streak along one side. Held on well, but definitely unattractive.
Draw: medium firm, nice volume of smoke.
Bouquet: pleasant but innocuous; wouldn't offend anyone, but neither would it attract attention.
Flavor: one-dimensional, astringent (my mouth felt puckered from the first puff). Any notes of cedar were of the pencil-shaving variety, and a cheap pencil at that.
Strong lingering aftertaste, with a chemical note.
Rating: Maybe a 70, or a 75 if I give it points for appearance.
Maybe the churchill or the torp will redeem this line, but right now I have to put it into the camp of over-priced, over-hyped chump stick. A smoke in the $10-12 range should be way better than this, even fresh out of the store. Nowhere near the equal of the Exodus '59 or the Silver label, IMO.
I'm thinking these were rushed into production because of the anticipation and demand that a new Torano smoke creates. If so, it was a big mistake.
:angry: